Privacy policy

Introduction

The Australian Education Union ACT Branch is the union representing teachers and various other classes of education workers in government schools, CIT, and early childhood education. The Union collects personal information in order to conduct its business of representing, advocating and campaigning for the industrial, professional, social, political and economic interests of its members.

The Union operates in the political, legal, industrial and social spheres. The Union is committed to protecting your privacy and providing you with information and services relevant to you. The Union complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). This Privacy policy (Policy) should be read in conjunction with the Privacy
Act and the APPs.

In this policy, the Union means the AEU Australian Capital Territory.

How This Policy Works

This policy applies to personal information the Union collects from you via one of our websites, via social media, via telephone, via email, via fax, in person or in writing.
This policy also applies to personal information the Union collects from the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), or any other third party, about you.

Union Websites

The Union websites collect two types of information. The first type is anonymous information. The web server makes a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes:

• The user's server address.
• The user's top level domain name (e.g. com, .gov, .net, .au, etc.).
• The date and time of the visit to the site.
• The pages accessed and documents downloaded.
• The previous site visited.
• The type of browser used.

No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except, in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the internet service provider's logs. Another way information may be collected is through the use of "cookies". A cookie is a small text file that the website may place on your computer. Cookies may be used, among other things, to track the pages you have visited, to remember your preferences and to store personal information about you.

You can adjust your internet browser to disable cookies or to warn you when cookies are being used. However, if you disable cookies, you may not be able to access certain areas of the website or take advantage of the improved experience that cookies offer.
Our websites, including campaign pages, may contain links to other websites, social media pages including Facebook and Twitter, or other software programs. We are not responsible for the privacy policies of the entities responsible for those websites and we recommend that you review the privacy policies applicable to any other websites you visit.

The Union may, however, collect information, including personal or sensitive information from these other websites or social media pages for the purpose of conducting its business as described above.

The Kinds of Information the Union May Collect

From time to time you may voluntarily supply your personal information to the Union. The Union will record your e-mail address if you send us a message, subscribe to an email newsletter, or complete a form that requests this information.
When you provide your personal information, it allows us, for example, to assist you with industrial relations and employment queries, inform you about and enable you to participate in industrial, social and political campaigns, and accept your application for membership. You may supply personal information to the Union by, for example, responding to a survey, filling in a meeting
attendance sheet, taking part in a competition, completing a membership form, discussing your issues with a representative, or signing up to a campaign. The Union only collects personal information that is necessary for the Union to perform its functions and/or activities.

Depending upon the circumstances you may provide to the Union, and the Union may collect, information such as, but not limited to:

Some personal information is considered sensitive information and includes:

• Political, religious or philosophical opinions.
• Political party membership (if any).
• Union membership (if any).
• Racial or ethnic origin.
• Sexual orientation.
• Any disabilities, illnesses or injuries you may have.
• Any other health information.
The Privacy Act allows the Union to collect sensitive information which relates solely to Union members or people who have regular contact with the Union if the sensitive information relates to the Union’s activities. We will only collect sensitive information where we have received your consent to your personal information being collected, used, disclosed and stored by the Union in accordance with this Policy.

Where you provide information to the Union in relation to a job application, the personal information you provide will only be collected, held, used and disclosed for the purposes of considering your potential employment with the Union. Where you provide the details of referees, you confirm that you have informed the referees that you are providing their contact information to the Union and they have consented to the Union contacting them and discussing the personal information you have provided in relation to the job application.

We will collect personal information directly from you unless:

• You have consented to the Union’s collection of your personal information from third parties - for example, from the ACTU - or your representatives.
• We are legally required to do so.
• It is unreasonable or impractical to do so.

Where we have collected personal information about you either directly or by other means as set out above, we will notify you at the time, or as soon as practicable, to ensure that you are aware of such collection and its purpose. You can choose to interact with us anonymously or by using a pseudonym where it is lawful and practicable. For example, you may wish to participate in a blog or enquire about a particular campaign anonymously or under a pseudonym. Your decision to interact anonymously or by using a pseudonym may affect the level of services we can offer you. For example, we may not be able to
assist you with a specific industrial enquiry or investigate a privacy complaint on an anonymous or pseudonymous basis. We will inform you if this is the case and let you know the options available to you.
If we receive unsolicited personal information about or relating to you and we determine that such information could have been collected in the same manner if we had solicited the information, then we will treat it in the same way as solicited personal information and in accordance with the APPs.
Otherwise, if we determine that such information could not have been collected in the same manner as solicited personal information, and that information is not contained in a Commonwealth record, we will, if it is lawful and reasonable to do so, destroy the information or de-identify the information.

The Purposes for Which Personal Information is Collected, Held, Used and Disclosed

The Union collects, holds, uses and discloses your personal information to:
• Assist you with industrial relations and employment queries and issues.
• Inform you about, and assist the Union in, industrial, social and political campaigns.
• Inform you about your rights at work.
• Inform you about changes to legislation or workplace practice.
• Refer you to a legal practitioner, accountant or other professional.
• Improve our service delivery.
• Manage our relationship with you.
• Conduct surveys and research.
• Provide educational services and professional development.
• Conduct Union elections.

Using Your Information for Direct Marketing

You consent to our use and disclosure of your personal information for the purposes of direct marketing which may include providing you with information about events, products or services which may be of interest to you. If you do not want us to use your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may elect not to receive direct marketing at the time of providing your personal information.

Unsubscribing and Opting Out

If you no longer wish to receive direct marketing or other communications, you may request at any time to cancel your consent to such communications as follows:

• If subscribing to an email newsletter you may "unsubscribe" at any time from the newsletter mailing list.
• The Union may, from time to time, send you text messages about issues of importance such as events or campaigns. You may “opt out” by texting STOP in reply to a text message from the Union.
• You may contact us at any time by mail or email directed to our Privacy Officer.

Collection and Disclosure of Your Personal Information

The Union may collect from and/or disclose your personal information, in connection with or to further the purposes outlined above, to:

• Elected bodies of the Union.
• AEU representatives.
• AEU Federal Office or other AEU Branches.
• The ACTU.
• Other Australian trade unions.
• Affiliated trades halls or labour councils.
• Government bodies or agencies (including the Fair Work Commission, the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Australian Tax Office, an anti-discrimination body, a work/occupational health and safety regulator).
• Organisations or individuals to whom we outsource functions (including information technology providers, print service providers, mail houses).
• Otherwise as you have consented.
• Otherwise as required by law.

If any of these organisations are located outside Australia, you expressly consent to us disclosing your personal information to those organisations. These parties may be located in the following countries:
• The United States of America

We take reasonable steps to ensure that each organisation from which we collect or to whom we disclose your personal information is committed to protecting your privacy and complies with the Australian Privacy Principles, or is subject to a law or scheme that is at least substantially similar to the way in which the Australian Privacy Principles protect information.
By providing your personal information to the Union, you consent to us transferring your personal information to such other organisations.

How the Union Holds Personal Information

Wherever reasonably practicable, the Union holds electronic personal information on data servers that are owned and controlled by the Union in Australia. The data servers are password protected and login secured. However, by providing personal information to the Union you consent to your information being stored and processed on a data server or data servers (e.g. cloud services) owned by a third party or third parties that may be located outside of Australia. The Union will take reasonable steps to ensure that any third party providers comply with the APPs. If personal information is only routed through servers located outside of Australia, this is not regarded as a disclosure.

Wherever reasonably practicable the Union holds physical personal information in access controlled premises. When the Union no longer requires your personal information for a specific purpose and we are not required to keep it to comply with any laws, we will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to destroy your personal information or to ensure that the information is deidentified.

Government Identifiers

We will not adopt as our own identifier a government related identifier of an individual, such as a tax file number or Medicare card number and will only use or disclose a government related identifier where the use or disclosure:

• Is reasonably necessary for the Union to verify your identity for the purposes of our activities or functions.
• Is reasonably necessary for the Union to fulfil its obligations to an agency or a state or territory
authority.
• Is required or authorised by or under an Australian law.
• Is reasonably necessary for one or more enforcement related activities conducted by, or on behalf of, an enforcement body.

How You May Seek Access and/or Correction to Personal Information Held by the Union

You have the right to request access to your personal information and request that it be updated or corrected. In most cases you can gain access to your personal information that the Union holds. To request access to, correction of, or updating of any personal information held about you, please write to the Privacy Officer at the following address:

The Union requires that you provide proof of identity in order to seek access to your personal information. The Union may refuse to provide access if permitted to do so by law or under the APPs. The Union will seek to provide you with access to your personal information within 30 days of receipt of a valid request and may charge you a reasonable fee for doing so.
You should contact the Union when your personal information details change. It is important that we keep our membership details up to date. The Union may also take steps to update your personal information by reference to publicly available sources such as telephone directories or electoral rolls or through your workplace union representatives.

Updates to personal details can be made via email to aeuact@aeuact.org.au.

How You May Complain About a Breach of the APPs

To make a complaint about an alleged breach of the APPs please write to or email the Privacy Officer at one of the following addresses:

All complaints must be written. Please provide all details about your complaint as well as any supporting documentation to the Privacy Officer.

How the Union Will Deal With Complaints

The Union will seek to deal with privacy complaints as follows:

• Complaints will be treated seriously.
• Complaints will be dealt with promptly.
• Complaints will be dealt with confidentially.
• Complaints will be investigated by the Privacy Officer.
• The outcome of an investigation will be provided to the complainant where the complainant has provided proof of identity. The Union will seek to respond within 30 days of receipt of a valid complaint.

Variations to the Policy

This Policy may be varied from time to time and an updated version will be posted on the Union’s websites. Please check our websites regularly to ensure that you have the most recent version of the Policy.